What books would you recommend for this class in the future?

I know a lot of people in class who questioned why we read the books we read in class and why all the writers were Chinese. But when you ask someone what they would have chosen instead they have a hard time answering. So now that we all had a chance to do some exploring I thought we could all put in out two censes on what books should stay and what books should go and what we would recommend for this course if/when its taught again.

For me I would say definitely keep Sui Sin Far, because her work is important to Asian American Literature in a historical since and its easy enough to be a good opening for a literature class but challenging enough to keep the reader interested, pulse she made fro great class discussions. Loved her or hated her everyone had something to say.

Next to add a little spice of something different I would recommend Yoshiko Uchida’s Journey to Topaz. She is a Japanese American writers so it breaks away from the having only Chinese writers. It’s not so long a novel that it can be covered in the allotted time. And although it’s technically a fiction book it still talks about the Japanese internment during the World War II, which was a real event. I think this is important because while I can only speak for myself, I did not even know that this terrible thing happened until it came up in late high school. And even then it was spoken of briefly like it was no big deal. I find this striking because I remember learning about the Holocaust in early grade school. I know there were know mass killings involved, so its not the same but it is an important human rights issue that is all to often swept under the carpet and that’s a dangerous mentality because its important to acknowledge these kinds of events and learn form them so we don’t repeat these kinds of mistakes, like many have argued is going on right now at Guantanamo Bay. This book would open up great discussion topics as well teach a lot of people about an event that’s all too often unfairly overlooked. Pulse as an added bonus the book was written for a younger age group so it’s a good way to explore a form of Asian American young adult literature. Those are three great points coved in one book.

Next to break away from the monogamy of an all fiction line up and as a more adult antidote after a young adult book like Journey to Topaz something like the Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking would be great. This is one of those you gota read once in your lifetime kind of books. I always hear great things about it. Plus it’s a great piece to explore race relations outside the US and the a-typical white and black that a lot of people seem to wrongly define racism as. It opens up to discussion about racism as more then just an issue in the US but a global issue that people deal with everywhere.

The only thing I would recommend to stay away from would be Any Tan and The Joy Luck Club not because it’s not a wonderful book but only because it’s already so popular and already widely read, pulse there is a movie and even a play. And a good literature class help students explore something new not something they can just go and watch the movie for and not have to read the novel.

Chinese Culture Sexist?

Is the Chinese culture really as sexist as these stories and books make it seem?  I was reluctant during my presentation to take a stance on it, not knowing enough about the culture to make any statement about it.  But it seems to me that all the Chinese women writers we've read have made it a central theme of their novels or stories.  I know the memoir I presented on, Maxine Hong Kingston's The Warrior Woman, was based mainly on Kingston's difficulties fighting the sexism and self-hatred with which the Chinese culture (via her mother) wanted to indoctrinate her.

However, a book--even a memoir--might exaggerate or more innocently magnify certain characteristics of the culture in order to address certain issues.

Is that the case?  I know several in the class must be more informed than I.  Other Asian-Americans, feel free to add your input on your culture or your perception of the Chinese culture.  I'm interested in learning more about this point.

If the request is too forward, I apologize.

Listen to a Bio and Poem from Cathy Park Hong

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/audioitem.html?id=238

...in her own voice

Writers at Newark Presentation.

I plan on losting my thoghts about the upcomeing presentation when its over on Wendsday. I hopw you guys will share your feelings with me too.

Manhood in Donald Duk and Native Speaker

I've attached an article (the link is below) that might be relevant to someone's upcoming paper, especially if anyone will be exploring gender issues in their upcoming paper/presentation.  I read it for my paper on Donald Duk, and though I didn't get to use it, I was impressed by some of the ideas this author develops.  The main one is that Donald Duk is not just a masculine work, but one that tries to assert Asian American masculinity.  This idea isn't just relevant to Donald Duk.  Native Speaker is very much about Henry's journey into a kind of second manhood.  Like Donald Duk, Henry must take responsibility for his mistakes by acknowledging his wrongdoing, making amends, and then continuing to do what's right.  He does this by quitting his job and no longer using silence as a weapon against Lelia.  If anyone plans on doing something like this, Lee addresses what it means to be a man on the bottom of page 29 to the top of page 30.

*If you have problems with the link, post it in the comments and I'll email you the article and/or fix the link.

Best of luck to all on their papers/presentations. :)

"To Eat the Flesh of His Dead Mother: Hunger, Masculinity, and Nationalism in Frank Chin's Donald Duk"

Native Speaker's End

I've finished Native Speaker and I'm satisfied with the ending. I didn't think Lelia and Henry would be able to patch things up, but they proved me wrong- I guess opposites do attract. I believe that Henry finally realized that his job as a spy wasn't helping his life back home since it required that he keep so much from his wife. Naturally, he was someone who kept most of his feelings to himself and this job only made him have an even bigger wall up. Also, Lelia teaching the kids at home brought a new, refreshing, and positive vibe to a place normally filled with an awkward heaviness.

While I was happy for Lelia and Henry, Kwang's political demise was heartwrenching! He went through so much to accomplish what he did and just like that, people turned on him in the lowest of ways. I was appalled by the angry mob waiting outside of his house, yelling hideous slurs, spitting on, and eventually bumrushing him. I felt like his career in politics was officially over, that there was no coming back from his fall. Sadly, all he wanted was to assist those who needed help in achieving their goals.

If the book were to go on, I assume that Lelia and Henry would eventually have another child. I wouldn't consider this replacing Mitt at all, they were just so loving toward him and another child deserves the love they have to give. Regarding Kwang, it would have been so interesting if he and Henry would have continued a friendship- but I don't know how this would've worked.

ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE PRESENTATION

For our final meetings we will explore other Asian American texts chosen by each member of the class. Each student will write a five page paper about their work and present the paper to the class. Each presentation will take ten minutes and cover the issues raised in the text concerning Asian American literature.

Process: Choose an Asian American text to present to the class. This may be a novel, play, selection of poems (at least four) or a film. Each student will write a five page paper discussing how the text explores Asian American issues: identity, aesthetics and/or cross cultural traditions. Each student will present their paper to the class in a ten minute discussion of the work.

Suggested Works
Students are encouraged to find a work on their own. You may also look at the suggested works listed below:
Don Lee, Yellow, Country of Origin
Jhumpa Lahiri (anything by her)
Gail Tsukiyama (anything by her)
Iris Chang The Rape of Nanking
Li Young Lee (anything by him)
Cathy Park Hong (Poetry: Dance Dance Revolution, Translating Mo'um)
Amy Tan (anything by her)